The boat you see featured in the film was the "Radiant Star" which sadly saw its last trip in 1971 (its first trip was in 1956 - so it was a fairly new boat when the film was made). I'm not sure but I think most of the boats that plow the harbour these days were all inaugurated in the 1960's - but there are three that are still Suzie Wong 'vintage': Celestial Star (天星 1956), Meridian Star (二代 1958) and Solar Star (日星 1958).
Below is a dialogue scene between Holden and Kwan that was actually filmed in the studio (as all dialogue scenes were done this way). The background is back-projected but it's still interesting to see how low-rise the HK side of the harbour was in 1959/1960 and it's nice to see the sadly missed Star Ferry clock in the lower picture.
That clock tower was iconic. When I was in high school at La Salle, I would go to Tsim Sha Tsui at night and do night photography. I have several interesting pictures with the clock tower included. It was a much quainter Hong Kong back then. Any one remember the HKSH bank building in Central?
ReplyDeleteThe film was a coming of age event for me, I was 16, full of romantic expectation. Holden was one of my favorite actors, and Nancy Kwon was gorgeous. I have come to realize that the story was not compelling, but the HongKong spectacle was captivating.
ReplyDeleteHerb